A number of years ago I made a New Years Resolution that I’d highly recommend to any cooks who claim to not be bakers – I resolved to “become a baker”. And I was successful, perhaps too successful. I conquered scones, biscuits, yeast dough, and even bread. I became the go to cake baker and found a carrot cake recipe that my dad requests for any and all events where he’s the guest of honor (Father’s Day and his birthday especially). Before that year began I made a bundt cake using the pan one of my very best friends got me as a wedding gift.
This first bundt cake was perfect –
And so was the second –
That whole year of becoming a baker I made no other bundt cakes, clearly I’d already conquered it. Then last April I decided to rebel from my dad’s request and make him a root beer bundt cake. It was decidedly unperfect. It was so unperfect it had to become a trifle as no portion came out of the pan into anything that looked like a cake. And that trifle was great, nobody refuses cake chunks integrated with cream cheese frosting, or at least nobody I know.
Then, I gave up for months. The worst thing you can do in cooking or baking is follow an almost failure turned improvised success with inaction. I didn’t want another disaster on my hands. Then for aforementioned dinner party I made another – it was okay. Not perfect, but not an epic disaster. It did not come out in one piece, but it could be salvaged and pieced back together. I was getting closer! That began a string of bundt failures as I hoped to edge closer to success. The most epic failure looked like this…
That’s when I decided no amount of greasing or letting it rest was going to work. We needed to look at other failures and learn from their mistakes and methods. One popular method involves a combination of resting and steam. You boil water in a kettle and then you dump it all over a dish towel. The methods diverge from here some suggest draping it atop the pan and others suggest sitting the bundt on top of one – for maximum success I did both. And again it was closer, but not there yet.
That’s when I caved and ordered a fancy baking spray from Williams Sonoma. As far as I could tell this is a common bundt pan issue. The first 2-3 are perfect and then something goes awry with the coating. I was admitting semi-defeat and enlisting more professional tools. And you know what – it worked.
The moral of the story is twofold and both are classic life lessons. 1) If at first you don’t succeed, try try again. 2) Good tools may not be everything, but they sure can help.